Oak frame pool houses and leisure buildings

Why build a pool house in oak?

Because it is the building that makes a pool usable, and in oak it is built to the standard of the house. The frame is on show inside and out, and the pegged joints pull tighter as the oak dries.

Foxtail Oak designs and builds oak pool houses, outdoor kitchens and other leisure buildings within 90 minutes of our workshop near Abergavenny, and supplies frames cut and numbered anywhere in the UK. We price every pool house per job.

How much does an oak pool house cost?

We price every pool house per job, because the size, the glazing, the services and the finishes inside vary so much. The pool itself is a separate contract. Ask us and we will give you a figure for your site.

Designed and built, including VAT

• Open-sided: priced per job
• Enclosed and glazed: priced per job

A price is for the finished building on ordinary ground. An open building costs less than an enclosed one because it does not carry the servicing, insulation and fit-out inside. On an enclosed pool house, the glazing and the ventilation are what move the price.

Supplied and installed, and supply only, are priced per job. Ask us.

What is in the price and what is not is under What do you get for the price?

What can an oak leisure building be used for?

A pool house, an outdoor kitchen, a games room or gym, or a pavilion beside a tennis court. Each is shaped around what happens in it.

• Pool houses The frame glazed in as a room, with doors that open onto the pool or the garden. At Peterston-super-Ely the pool house opens onto a covered dining area.
• Outdoor kitchens An open-sided building for cooking and eating outside, sometimes with one bay closed in for the kitchen. At Woods Farmstead, Raglan, the owners came back for the oak kitchen unit that now sits in the closed bay.
• Games rooms and gyms An enclosed room built around what you will do in it. We have not built a garden gym or a games room yet. We would take one on as a design job, and two of our garages have a home gym bay.
• Tennis court pavilions A covered place at the side of a court, out of the sun and the rain between games. We have drawn a walled tennis court pavilion, with a glazed central gable and a slate roof. We have not built one yet.

If you only want somewhere to sit outside, a garden pavilion is smaller and simpler. A room for everyday living or working is a garden room.

Do you need planning permission for a pool house?

Usually, given the size. A detached pool house is judged under the outbuilding rules, and its use has to be incidental to the house.

Green belt, National Park and conservation area sites need more care, and we will tell you early what applies to yours. On a design-and-build job the planning application is in the price; the council's own fees are not.

Does a pool house need building regulations?

It depends on the floor area and whether anyone will sleep in it, the same tests as a garden room.

We will tell you plainly which applies to your building at the design visit.

Can you buy an oak pool house as a kit?

Yes. Supply only is our kit: the oak frame and roof structure, cut and numbered for your builder to raise, priced per job.

There are three ways to buy, and the frame is the same in each. Whichever you choose, the pool, its plant and the wet-side fit-out are your pool contractor's.

Supply only

Priced per job. The detailed design, the structural calculations by our consulting engineer, the oak frame and the roof structure, with any secondary softwood. Eaves and verge boards, and cladding boards where the design has them, come loose and over length. We do not supply face glazing.

Supplied and installed

Priced per job. We make the frame and raise it, with the roof structure, the boards, and the glazing and doors on an enclosed building. Your builder does the base, the roof covering, and the services and finishes inside.

Designed and built

Priced per job. We do all of it: the design, the planning application, the engineer, the base, the frame, the roof, the glazing and doors, and the services and finishes inside an enclosed building.

Who does what?

| Designed and built | Supplied and installed | Supply only

Detailed design and drawings | us | us | us

Planning application, where needed | us | extra | you (we'll advise)

Structural calculations, by our consulting engineer | us | us | us

Base, on ordinary ground | us | you or your builder | you or your builder

Deeper or piled foundations | you or your builder | you or your builder | you or your builder

Oak frame | us | us | us

Raising the frame | us | us | you or your builder

Roof structure | us | us | supplied, cut

Eaves, verge and cladding boards | us | us | supplied loose, over length

Roof covering | us | you or your builder | you or your builder

Glazing and doors, on an enclosed building | us | us | not supplied

Services and finishes inside, on an enclosed building | us | you or your builder | you or your builder

The pool, its plant and the wet-side fit-out | your pool contractor | your pool contractor | your pool contractor

Power, water or drainage brought from the house | you or your builder | you or your builder | you or your builder

Diverting existing services | you or your builder | you or your builder | you or your builder

Planning and building control fees | you | you | you

More detail: Supply only, supply and install, or design and build: which is right for you?

What size pool house do you need?

Usually 40 to 80 m² of external footprint, which is larger than most garden rooms. Each one is drawn to suit the pool, the garden and what you will do in it.

Orientation, the prevailing wind and the relationship to the house all shape it, so we look at those first on the design visit. Decide early whether it will be open-sided or enclosed, because that sets most of the cost.

Can a pool house have a changing room, shower or toilet?

An enclosed pool house can have services and finishes inside, and on a design-and-build job they are in the price. A changing room, shower or toilet can be built in, quoted per job.

Bringing water, power and drainage to the building from the house is not in our price, so allow for it. At Cwmdu, the cabin we built is now the reception and changing room for a sauna and cold plunge business.

Is a gym or games room priced like a pool house?

An enclosed gym or games room is built like an enclosed pool house: glazed, insulated and heated. It is quoted per job, like a pool house.

We have not built a garden gym yet, so there is no project of ours to point to. If the building is just a box for equipment, a prefabricated cabin will usually cost less.

What do you get for the price?

A finished building from the ground up, on ordinary ground, specified for the damp air, chlorine and temperature swings beside a pool.

What is in the designed-and-built price?

• Design and frame design
• Standard foundations, groundworks and the base
• The oak frame, made and put together at our workshop, and the raising
• The roof and the weathertight envelope
• Glazing and doors
• Services and finishes, where the building is enclosed

What is not in the price?

• Planning and building control fees, which you pay to the council
• The swimming pool, its plant and any wet-side fit-out
• Deeper or piled foundations, where the ground needs them
• Bringing power, water or drainage to the building from the house
• Diverting existing services that run where the building will go

What is the oak like?

• Oak: green oak as standard, QPA visual grade, D30 strength class
• Finish: planed and chamfered
• Joints: every mortice and tenon draw-pegged
• Fixings: stainless throughout
• Ventilation: designed in with the frame, so moist air does not sit against it
• Cutting: routine cuts machined at our sawmill from our own files, complex joints by our carpenters near Abergavenny
• Engineering: signed off by our consulting engineer, whichever way you buy

Which leisure buildings have we built?

One pool house, an outdoor kitchen under a garden pavilion, and a cabin that now serves a sauna. Each has its own page with the photographs and the story of the job.

Oak frame pool house at Peterston-super-Ely: Peterston-super-Ely, Vale of Glamorgan, 2024. A pool house and outdoor living space, shaped around an irregular courtyard rather than fighting it.

Oak frame garden pavilion at Raglan: Raglan, Monmouthshire, 2022. A garden pavilion for family gatherings at Woods Farmstead, roofed in cedar shingle, with an oak kitchen unit added afterwards.

Oak frame cabin at Cwmdu: Cwmdu, near Crickhowell, Powys, 2024. An oak and softwood cabin built as a glamping pod, now the reception and changing room for a sauna and cold plunge business.

We have drawn a tennis court pavilion but not built one, and we have not built a garden gym. More of our work: see every project.

How long does a pool house take?

It depends on the building, so we give the time on site on the call. How far ahead our workshop is booked changes month to month, so we tell you then as well.

From first call to finished building

1. A design visit: orientation, the prevailing wind and the relationship to the house
2. Frame design, with the ventilation and moisture strategy agreed at the same time
3. The frame machined and cut at our sawmill and workshop near Abergavenny
4. Raising on site
5. The roof and weathertight envelope, then glazing, doors, services and finishes where the building is enclosed

How long will an oak pool house last?

For generations, if it is detailed to shed water. Exposed oak that is well detailed lasts about 50 years or more, and oak inside a weather envelope lasts centuries.

Will the chlorine damage the oak?

Not the oak itself, but it attacks steel. Every fixing we use is stainless, and we design the ventilation so moist air is not sitting against the frame.

What should you expect from green oak?

It cracks along the grain and twists a little as it dries, which the pegged joints are designed for. It bleeds tannin onto paving below it in its first year or so, and it weathers to silver-grey unless you keep oiling it.

What upkeep does it need?

Very little, if you leave the oak to silver. If you oil it, it needs oiling again every year. The roof, the glazing and the gutters need looking after like any building's.

Is an oak pool house right for you?

It suits you if

• The garden is built around the pool and the building will be seen from the house
• You want a building for an activity that is part of the garden, not a room of the house
• You want the frame on show

Something else may suit you better if

• You only want somewhere to sit outside. A garden pavilion or a gazebo does that for less
• It is a room for everyday living or working. That is a garden room
• The building is just a box for gym equipment. A prefabricated cabin will usually cost less

What else do people ask?

Do you build oak pool houses in my area?

We design and build within 90 minutes of Abergavenny. We supply and install within two and a half hours of Abergavenny, and elsewhere in the UK case by case. We supply frames cut and numbered to anywhere in the UK.

Do you install the pool?

No. We build the structure and work alongside your pool contractor.

Can it be open-sided?

Yes. An open-sided building beside an outdoor pool is a simpler and cheaper building than an enclosed pool house, and in the right setting it is the better answer.

Is the ground under it included?

Standard foundations and the base on ordinary ground are in the designed-and-built price. Deeper or piled foundations, where the ground needs them, are not.

What should you read next?

• Do you need planning permission for an oak frame extension or garden room?
• Supply only, supply and install, or design and build: which is right for you?